Vehicle door assembly

ABSTRACT

A vehicle door assembly including an outer contoured panel, an inner contoured panel, the panels being connected at their side and bottom edges, and a glass and regulator track assembly adapted to being assembled through the adjacent upper edges of the panels into the space between the panels and secured to the inner panel. A majority of the inner trim is molded integrally as the surface of the inner panel, with a separately applied trim element secured to the upper edge portion of the inner panel, and an arm rest secured to the inner panel at a central portion thereof. A side impact beam extends longitudinally between the outer and inner panels, and includes a longitudinally oriented mounting plate at its forward end and a laterally oriented mounting plate at its rear end for mounting on the inner panel.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 08/155,367, filed on Nov. 22,1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,024.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to vehicle door assemblies and, moreparticularly, to such assemblies which are light in weight, low in cost,and readily assembled and serviced.

BACKGROUND ART

Heretofore, vehicle door assemblies have conventionally included fullouter and inner panels, and full interior trim panels, wherein assemblyof the interior components is accomplished prior to assembly of theinner door trim panel, and access to the interior components for repairrequires removal of the full interior trim panel.

De Rees U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,682 discloses a modular door structurehaving upper and lower housing portions which are detachable from eachother, and wherein the upper housing portion carries a retractablewindow panel.

Various reinforcement members for vehicle doors are shown in thefollowing patents:

Stevens U.S. Pat. No. 3,839,149; Inami et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,734;Engelsberger U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,580; Imura et al U.S. Pat. No.4,651,470; Hellriegel U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,496; Lomasney et al U.S. Pat.No. 4,924,630; and Freeman U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,034.

Sobajima et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,588 discloses a vehicle door and bodyarrangement having upper and lower coactive engaging means, eachincluding a peripheral crest and corresponding peripheral grooveengageable with each other.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

A general object of the invention is to provide an improved vehicle doorassembly;

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved door assembly,preferably for a door construction without an upper structural frame;

A further object of the invention is to provide a door assemblyincluding an outer contoured panel and an inner contoured panelconnected at their front and rear sides and bottom edges, and whereinhardware is loaded from outside the door; a glass and regulator assemblyis loaded through the belt opening; access to the latch, outside handle,key cylinder, and linkage is through a latch cover mounted on the innerpanel; and access to the mirror assembly, inside handle, and regulatormounting is through the belt-line trim panel; the end result beingreduced weight and cost, and less time required for assembly andservice.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a vehicle doorassembly wherein a major portion of the door trim is molded into theinner panel surface, with only a small added portion of trim, includingan arm rest, being required.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent whenreference is made to the following drawings and the accompanyingdescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the inventive door assembly,less the interior trim;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of components of the inventivedoor assembly;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the assembled door, with the trimcomponents exploded therefrom;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the assembled door;

FIGS. 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 16 are enlarged fragmentary views ofportions of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the plane of the line 6--6of FIG. 5, and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged end view taken along the plane of the line 9--9 ofFIG. 3, and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 14 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the plane of theline 14--14 of FIG. 3, and looking in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 15 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the plane of theline 15--15 of FIG. 3, with the glass in its lowermost position, andlooking in the direction of the arrows.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, FIGS. 1 and 2illustrate a door assembly 10 including a composite contoured outerpanel 12 and a composite contoured inner panel 14 adapted to beinginterconnected at their outer peripheral sides and bottom edges. Inbetween the upper peripheral edges are mating composite outer door andbelt reinforcement and composite inner door and belt reinforcementmembers 16 and 18, respectively. The member 18 includes an upwardlyextending portion 19.

An outside door handle and key cylinder assembly 20 is (FIG. 1) adaptedto be mounted on a rear open portion 24 (FIG. 2) of the outer panel 12.An outside mirror assembly 26 is secured to the upwardly extendingportion 19 and to a front upwardly extended portion 28 of the inner doorand belt reinforcement member 18.

A structural impact beam 30 (FIG. 2) extends longitudinally between theouter and inner panels 12 and 14, and includes a front longitudinallyoriented mounting plate 32 (FIGS. 2 and 5) and a rear laterally orientedmounting plate 34 (FIG. 2) for mounting respectively on a front end wall36 and a rear end wall 38 of the contoured inner panel 14, being securedthereto by suitable laterally extending fasteners 40 (FIGS. 2 and 5) andlongitudinally extending fasteners 42 (FIG. 2) respectively. As shown inFIG. 5, the forward end of the beam 30 extends into an opening 41 in aneck portion of the bracket 32. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 8, the mountingplate 34 is secured in any suitable manner to the end of the beam 30.The perpendicular relationship of the beam 30 opposite end fasteningtechnique serves to add rigidity to the side impact structure.

An upper door hinge assembly 44 is secured by fasteners 45 to the upperportion of the front end wall 36, and by fasteners 46 to a front vehiclepillar, represented at 47 (FIG. 5). A lower door hinge assembly 48(FIGS. 1, 5 and 6) is secured by fasteners 49 to the lower portion ofthe front end wall 36, and by fasteners 50 (FIG. 5) to the front vehiclepillar 47. A check strap assembly 51 (FIGS. 1 and 7) is secured byfasteners 52 to a bracket 53, which is attached to the intermediateportion of the front end wall 36 by fasteners 54.

A long seal strip 56 (FIG. 1) mounts around the edge of the front endwall 36, a bottom surface 58, and the rear end wall 38. A short sealstrip 60 mounts around the edge of the front upwardly extended portion28 of the inner door and belt reinforcement member 19. A glass and beltouter seal assembly 62 extends across the upper edge of the outer doorpanel 12.

A glass and regulator track assembly 64 is adapted to being loadedthrough the belt-line. The assembly 64 includes a window glass 66secured at the lower front portion thereof by a fastener 67 to a liftplate 68 (FIGS. 1 and 10), and at the lower rear portion thereof by afastener 69 to a lift plate 70 (FIGS. 1 and 12). As shown in FIGS. 10and 12, the lift plates 68 and 70 are slidably mounted in respectivevertically oriented tracks 72 and 74 by slide projections 75 shown inFIG. 14. The tracks 72 and 74 are secured by fasteners 76 and 78 attheir lower ends in mounting recesses 80 (FIGS. 1 and 11) and 82 (FIGS.1 and 15) formed in the bottom surface 58 of the inner panel 14. Frontand rear upper regulator housings 84 and 85, respectively, are securedat upper front and rear ends of the tracks 72 and 74 in two mountingrecesses 86 in the inner panel 14 by fasteners 87 (FIGS. 1 and 14).Front and rear lower regulator housings 88 and 90 are secured at lowerfront and rear ends of the tracks 72 and 74. Fixed drums 91 (FIG. 10),92 (FIG. 12), 93 (FIG. 11), and 94 (FIG. 13) are secured in therespective housings 84, 85, 88 and 90.

A crank assembly 96 including a crank arm stem 97, a crank arm 98, andan inner drum 99 (FIG. 10) is secured by fasteners 100 in an opening 38Aformed in the inner panel 14 through an opening 101 (FIG. 2). A cable102 (FIGS. 10-13) extends through a series of sheaths 103 from aroundthe drum 99 of the crank assembly 96 downwardly around the lower frontdrum 93, upwardly around the upper front drum 91, laterally anddownwardly around the lower rear drum 94, upwardly around the upper reardrum 92, and laterally back to the drum 99 of the crank assembly 96 formoving the lift plates 68 and 70 and their associated window 66 up anddown by the crank arm 98 (FIGS. 3 and 10).

An inside door handle assembly 104 (FIG. 1) is secured by fasteners 106to the inner panel 14. A rod 108 extends from the assembly 104 to an endof a bell crank 110 which is pivotally mounted at its center to theinner panel 14. The other end of the bell crank 110 is operativelyconnected via a rod 111 (FIG. 16) to a door latch 112 (FIGS. 1 and 16)secured to the rear end wall 38 by fasteners 113. The latch 112 isoperatively connected to a striker 112A (FIG. 8) mounted on a rearvehicle pillar 112B. A further rod 114 extends upwardly to an insidelocking push button 115. The outside door handle and lock assembly 20 isoperatively connected via a lock rod 116 (FIG. 16) and a handle rod 117to the door latch 112.

As shown in FIG. 3, a trim member 118, including an inner glass and beltseal assembly 120, is mounted along the length of the upper portion ofthe inner panel 14 and over the upwardly extending portion 28 of theinner door and belt reinforcement member 18. An armrest assembly 122(FIGS. 3 and 4) abuts against a front lower portion 124 of the trimmember 118, to extend downwardly and rearwardly along a mid portion ofthe inner panel 14. The crank arm stem 97 extends through an opening 126(FIG. 3) formed in the front lower trim portion 124. An inside doorrelease handle 128 of the handle assembly 104 extends through a secondopening 130 (FIG. 3) formed in the trim panel 118. A latch cover 132(FIG. 3) is secured by a fastener 134 to the upper rear end wall 38 ofthe inner panel 14.

As shown in FIGS. 6, 7 and 15, the door assembly 10 is mounted, whenclosed, above a vehicle rocker panel 136, and on a front pillar 137,with the seal 56 on the bottom of the inner panel 14 confinedtherebetween. As may be noted in FIGS. 6, 7 and 15, there is illustrateda door-to-body interlock system, represented at oppositely disposedcontoured surfaces 138 and 140 formed on the inner door and the body,respectively. As such, in the event of a side impact, this interlocksystem serves to help prevent the door from moving inwardly into theoperator or passenger compartments by locking up the adjacent contouredsurfaces.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

It should be apparent that the invention provides an improved vehicledoor assembly including the following features:

a. all hardware can be loaded from outside the door;

b. the glass and regulator assembly is loaded through the belt opening;

c. less time is required for assembly and service;

d. there is easy access to latch, outside handle, key cylinder andlinkage through a latch cover mounted on the inside, rear facing of doorinner panel;

e. there is easy access to mirror assembly, inside remote handle, andregulator mounting through the belt-line trim panel;

f. the majority of the door trim surface is molded internally into thedoor inner panel;

g. a minimal amount of door trim is required, resulting in reducedweight and cost, and less time required for assembly and service; and

h. door and body interlocking occur in the event of a side impact.

While but one embodiment of the invention has been shown and described,other modifications thereof are possible within the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vehicle door assembly comprising an outercontoured panel, an inner contoured panel having front and rear endwalls, the panels being connected at their front, rear and bottomperipheral edges, a structural impact beam mounted intermediate theouter and inner panels and connected at respective front and rear endsthereof to a separate longitudinally oriented single front mountingplate secured by laterally extending fasteners to said front end wall,and to a separate laterally oriented rear mounting plate secured bylongitudinally extending fasteners to said rear end wall of the innercontoured panel, and wherein said separate longitudinally oriented frontmounting plate includes an opening into which the front end of saidstructural impact beam is extended.
 2. The vehicle door assemblydescribed in claim 1, wherein said laterally oriented rear mountingplate is secured to the rear end of said structural impact beam.
 3. Thevehicle door assembly described in claim 1, wherein said structuralimpact beam is U-shaped in cross section, with the bottom of theU-shaped beam abutting directly against said outer contoured panel.